New York City, April 30th, 2009. Saks Fifth Avenue presented the third annual Design Cares event, 'Keleidescope of Dreams' benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at the Armory on Lexington Avenue and 26th Street. About 900 supporters showed up for the occasion. The VIP section numbered 500 and was sold out days before the event. Leslie Mills, a committee member said, "The amount of support we received was overwhelming. A lot of people wanted to be a part of our event, so many designers wanted to donate gowns for our fashion show; we had to stop at 32 or our show would have gone on all night!"

According to Launch Media: New for 2009 are several elements to Design Cares. First, is Models of Hope, whereby socials and celebrities walked the runway in the gowns for St. Jude Design Cares. Some of this year’s models were, Jaslene Gonzalez – Americans Next Top Model, CariDee English – Model, TV Personality, Whitney Thompson – Americas Next Top Model Winner, Ally Hilfiger, Byrdie Bell, and many more. Second, is the theme Kaleidoscope of Dreams: “Kaleidoscope” because the show was made possible by the charitable efforts of so many participating parties and designers; and “Dreams” was a Dream Come True for two young girls, and current St. Jude cancer patients who wish to be fashion designers when they grow up. Design Cares paired the girls with designers Christian V. Siriano (winner, Project Runway Season 4) and Tian Justman (emerging designer and former St. Jude patient and cancer survivor, http://www.tianjustman.com), who reinterpreted the children’s gown drawings for the runway.

About St. Jude: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization.
For more information, please visit http://www.stjude.org.
To view more photos go to http://www.herbertcollection.com